Ancient Coin Collecting: Organization, Praxis and Epistemology

Abstract - John Hooker, ©2009 -------- Although most archaeologists are mainly interested in their own chosen specialties, a very vocal minority has become very critical of collectors and has set themselves up as policy makers or advisors for archaeological societies, governments and the public in general. Being a political group, and using PR techniques, they have set aside the normal controls that one expects to see in academic discourse and have, instead, engaged in an “activist” style of rhetoric most common during political campaigns. This appears to have confused politicians and the public alike, who commonly cast academics as “experts” and who feel that great care must have been taken in the formulation of their public statements. This paper attempts to examine just a few of the commonest opinions voiced by this minority to see if academic due diligence is being properly exercised. If it is not, then there can be only two possible explanations: they are deliberately trying to deceive, or they are poorly equipped, intellectually, to deal with such matters. The final part of the paper makes a few suggestions as to how to begin to address the real problems of any potential loss of knowledge.

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